Illustrator and sculptor Kiel Johnson visits MCA to discuss his work and his experiences as an artist.

Kiel Johnson’s drawings and sculptures tell tales; layered narratives speak of his travels and adventures through everyday life. His works become a springboard for metaphorical investigations of the world he inhabits. Although both factual fictions and absurd scenarios, they are ultimately testaments to observation that force us to question the concrete and truthful. What at first might appear safe and secure will be, upon further inspection, very precarious.

Kiel Johnson (b. 1975 in Missouri) received his MFA at California State University, Long Beach. He has received prestigious awards and honors including the Pollock-Krasner Grant, Durfee Foundation ARC Grant, and the CSULB Outstanding Creative Achievement Award. He has had solo exhibitions at the Taubman Museum of Art (Va.), Irvine Art Center (Calif.), and the Creative Artists Agency (Calif.), in addition to group inclusion at the McNay Museum (Texas), Torrance Art Museum (Calif.), Huntington Beach Art Center (Calif.), and the University Art Museum, Long Beach (Calif.). His work appears in several important public and private collections including the Creative Artist Agency (Calif.), Tubert International (Calif.), Steve Martin Collection (N.Y.), Todd Oldham (N.Y.), and Sprint World Headquarters (Mo.). Johnson currently lives and works in Los Angeles.